Brooke’s eyes widened. “Hate you for what?”
“For knowing him, for not stopping him before he hurt you.” It surprised her to see the usually confident Nikolai humbled. Brooke decided she didn’t enjoy it. She smacked him on the chest. “Snap out of it. I’m not going to hold you responsible for something another person did. And I don’t think it’s fair you’d believe that about me.”
Nikolai froze for a moment, but then relaxed and his lips quirked. “I’ll keep it in mind.” He leaned in for a toe-curling kiss. Brooke wanted to drag her two men to bed, but now wasn’t the right time.
“How did he get into my head if neither of you could do it?” Nikolai’s silver eyes turned metallic. The fury in his eyes caused a shiver to run down Brooke’s spine. “My best guess is he used a mind-weakening drug and ruptured your shield. Such tactics are extremely painful and can lead to brain aneurysms.”
“When we walked through your ship,” Galen drew commas in the air, “did you notice the metal scars along one section of the hull?” 105
Brooke thought back and nodded.
“Your shield repaired itself, making it even more difficult to penetrate.”
“Is that why I can’t read your minds like you read each others? I thought you said once you’re inside my shield you could read me?”
Galen cleared his throat and dropped his gaze.
Nikolai chuckled. “You’ve stumped him. He thought once we’d circumvented the shield, we’d be able to read you, but you still hold a number of closed doors. It could be because of your unusual shield or because of the damage done.” Brooke climbed off the chair and looked out of the main viewport at the hyperspace window. “Now we know who the leader of this particular operation is, what next?” She changed the subject, not ready to face those last demons.
They stayed silent for a moment before Nikolai picked up the conversation again.
“Silas has a villa on one of the moons close by.” Brooke frowned and ordered a data port to her. It hovered at eye level and ran the required scans. “Other than Wadhwa, most of these planets are uninhabited. It’s a new system. As far as scans go, Ferals have stayed away so far. Why would your friend own a villa this far out?” She turned back to him, hands on her hips. “And how the Jade would you know if you haven’t seen him in so long?” Nikolai smiled and crossed his arms in front of his muscular chest. Brooke drooled a little as the tight flight suit molded itself to those yummy contours.
“The system may be new, but a number of Vampires built a small community as soon as terraforming finished. We wanted something far out and private.” He held his hand out to Galen. “Sometimes social standing and people’s responses become too much. The need to get away grows unbearable. We bought the house before construction began and the settlement is close to a century old.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “At that point Silas and I were still in contact and I told him about the opportunity.” His shoulders dropped. “I didn’t think he’d use it as a smuggling HQ.” Brooke nodded and checked the data port again. “Why haven’t you set course yet?” The men exchanged a glance. She clapped her hands. “Boys, we’ve been through this, no hiding from me.”
They looked at her, but didn’t say anything. A sheen of challenge had taken over their posture. Brooke frowned and studied them more closely.
Yes, definitely challenge. What the Jade were they on about now?
Nobody spoke. They waited for her response.
She bit her lower lip. What did they want her to do?
The lines around Galen’s eyes deepened.
Brooke stiffened and crossed her arms.
She was failing some sort of test.
Then she understood.
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Brooke exhaled and closed her eyes. She had no idea how to do it, but she tried to open a door between her and Galen and Nikolai, to reach them with her mind. After a few false starts she connected to Galen.
His happiness at her attempt filled her mind. She increased her efforts and reached Nikolai, whose enthusiasm nearly knocked her over.
Brooke enjoyed their approval, but tried to get deeper into their minds and discover their plan. She managed to overcome her hesitation and stepped into Galen’s mind.
Where hers resembled a ship, his was a massive chamber, lavishly decorated with a number of doors going off it.
Galen chuckled. “That’s how you imagine it. Nikolai and I don’t visualize our minds in the same way,” he said in real life.
“Maybe because we knew what to expect when it happened,” Nikolai said.
“What happened?” Brooke asked.
The men only grinned.
Brooke gritted her teeth. Great, another test. She pushed it to one side and dug deeper for their plan. When she found it her jaw dropped.
The link snapped.
“This must be the stupidest plan I’ve seen in the history of plans.” The men only shrugged. “It’s what we’ve got,” Galen said.
Brooke threw her arms into the air and glared. “How did you find out about the explosion on the Nebokka?”
Confusion darkened Galen’s eyes. “We received the intel as an anonymous tip.” She snorted. “Of course. And the barrier in my mind? A Vampire and a Naema worked together to create something that could’ve fried your asses while you attempted to dismantle it. Do you honestly believe this is all coincidence?” Her voice grew louder with each word.
“We don’t.”
Nikolai’s calm words took the power out of her hyperdrive-engine. “You don’t?” He rose from his chair and sat next to Galen, pulling his lover’s embrace around himself. “No.”
“If you know you’ve been targeted, why in Jade’s name would you go into the lion’s den?”
“What else can we do?” Galen asked.
Brooke opened her mouth as if to answer, but she couldn’t. What was the alternative?
She began to pace. “We could go in with back-up and force him to surrender.”
“What about irrefutable proof? And you know he will kill any hostages as soon as he sees us approach.” Galen stroked his finger up and down Nikolai’s neck.
“Give me a moment,” Brooke grumbled.
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The men watched her in silence as she marched back and forth on the bridge. There had to be another way.
Nikolai stretched his arm out, offering his hand. “Milaya, as long as he believes the barrier is still in place and that we’re working on dismantling it, Silas will not attack us.
Using you meant there would be no link back to him. The community has a number of permanent residents. Dying or disappearing while visiting him will raise questions he won’t want to answer.”
She wasn’t yet ready to listen. Their plan was ridiculous and would get them killed.
“We will spread rumors as well,” Galen interrupted her mental ranting.
“What rumors?”
“Little hints we’ve had a falling-out with the Council, about their unhappiness with our progress. How they think we’re too slow and should have broken through your mental barrier by now.”
“How?”
Galen smirked. “We know a few of the people on the Ferals’ payroll. Snippets of transmissions will leak to the right ears and Silas will hear about our presumed failure.”
“It’ll make him feel more secure and superior,” Nikolai said.
“And while you’re on your super-secret mission, you decided to make a quick stop and visit an old friend with your suspect, who you’ve turned into a blood slave, in tow.
Really believable,” Brooke protested.
Nikolai’s lips twitched. “We are close to where the Nebokka exploded and we’re working hard at getting to your memories. He’ll happily believe we’ve been incapable of breaking through his Vampire-Naema trap. He’ll savor his victory.”
“How are you going to explain me? Why would I allow you to keep me as a pet, a blood slave?”
&n
bsp; “In an attempt to break your shield I’ve begun to drink your blood and liked it. I’ve also seduced you for your compliance. As we’re suspecting you of being a criminal, I have no scruples about using you.”
Something sharp stabbed Brooke’s heart. She held her face as expressionless as possible. His words had hit too close to her fears. Were they using her?
She cleared her throat. “And Silas will believe it?” Nikolai shrugged. “He knows I can be ruthless and the stakes are high enough for me to use unethical means. In his opinion nobody can withstand Vampire powers, so he’ll gladly believe that you’ve dropped all thought of what happened just to be with me.”
“Arrogant jackass,” Brooke muttered. She could play the brainless bimbo to get this monster. Something occurred to her. She captured Nikolai’s gaze. “I’ll need fang marks to prove you’re using me as a blood slave.”
He nodded.
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Brooke took half a step back. “Won’t my blood turn you Feral, make you lose control?”
Nikolai sighed. “It’s a rumor Vampires started after the war. It gave humans a sense of safety and control. Drinking blood doesn’t drive us crazy, Brooke. Vampires have been drinking human blood since the beginning of time.” Brooke frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“We never stopped drinking from willing donors, we’ve just kept it very discreet and quiet to not frighten humans. We can live off synth-blood, but real human blood is filled with life and spirit. It keeps us linked to this reality.”
“Nikolai drinks from me regularly.” Galen smiled. “It is one of the most erotic experiences you can imagine.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to add sex and pleasure.” He rose and cupped Brooke’s cheek. “I will make it as enjoyable as possible for you.” For once neither his heat nor his luscious scent garnered a response. Brooke remained frozen. “You’ve snowed the whole of humanity? What else are you lying about?”
He didn’t physically move, but distance stretched between them.
She regretted her words, but the tachyon bomb he’d just dropped was hard to swallow.
“Brooke, we fought for our survival when we signed the treaty with the Coalition.
We had no choice but to agree.”
She studied him and Galen. Trusting them meant she not only risked her heart, but her life. The men remained inscrutable. She had to make her decision. They wouldn’t try to defend themselves or persuade her.
She didn’t believe they’d take her into danger lightly. Brooke exhaled. She ignored the stubborn little worry nagging at the back of her mind. “All right. How do we do this?”
Some of the tension left the men, but her hesitation had hurt them. Brooke couldn’t think of a way to make it up to them right now.
Nikolai pulled her onto his lap. “I could take blood from the wrist, but as a pleasure companion as well as a blood slave he wouldn’t believe that.” Brooke read the worry in his eyes. Deep inside her where the connection to him lived couldn’t stand it and relaxed. She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. “Nothing you do will scare me away.”
An infinitesimal tension flowed out of him. Brooke tilted her head and waited. He kissed her neck and her nipples turned hard. He scraped his fangs across her skin and her juices flooded her underwear.
Nikolai chuckled.
Brooke wasn’t embarrassed by her response. This was Nikolai.
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His fangs dug into her neck and Brooke nearly exploded. His bite shot through every part of her body and when Galen kneeled between her legs and massaged her clit through her pants, she flew apart.
It was over that quickly.
Brooke slumped against him, panting. “So much for not adding sex and pleasure,” she mumbled.
Nikolai kissed her on the lips. She tasted her blood on his tongue, but instead of disgusting her it drove home the point that part of her now ran through Nikolai’s body.
She was literally part of him.
And she loved it.
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Chapter Eleven
The Mercy, a boxy Delta-Design, didn’t maneuver with enough agility in low orbit.
They took the shuttle once they’d cloaked the ship on the outskirts of Wadhwa. In an attempt to keep her mind focused on things other than their insane plan Brooke spent the majority of the short flight studying the gorgeous landscape through the viewport.
The forests and mountains of Wadhwa, interspersed by rivers and lakes, had none of the civilized air of Botannia, but showed an edge that appealed to her.
They landed outside the small community, the landing strip basic. HoverTrans waited and took them to Galen and Nikolai’s house. Galen had called it small, but what centuries-old Naema and Vampires described as small and what Brooke thought of as such didn’t quite match. Six bedrooms, four bathrooms and various libraries, studies and sunrooms did not equal small.
The house was gorgeous, light and airy with more windows and skylights than she’d ever seen. Masculine furniture complemented the design and never looked heavy or dark. She could see herself living here without having to make changes.
Her jaw dropped when she walked into the master bedroom. Half the Nebokka could have fit comfortably into the large chamber. A spaceball team could party on the bed without bumping into each other.
Maybe it was a slight exaggeration, but not by much.
Nikolai had sent a message, telling Silas he was in town and would like to meet.
The other Vampire had replied swiftly. He invited Nikolai for the same afternoon.
“He wants to know what we know,” Galen said.
Everybody agreed.
Nikolai helped Brooke select her wardrobe. Much to Brooke’s surprise he’d made some incredible choices. Her measurements were on file, making it easy for the computer to manufacture the dresses.
For the first encounter, she wore a deep purple-blue garment, which matched her eyes. It covered her from head to toe, even had a small collar pretending to cover the bite mark on her neck. Brooke followed the lines of her strong body, her hands luxuriating in the soft feel of the material. She had never before worn something so intensely feminine and part of her wished for her flight suit and weapons belt. But another part of her came close to purring in delight.
Brooke straightened her shoulders and exhaled. She could do this.
It helped when Galen’s and Nikolai’s eyes heated up as she walked down the stairs.
Two long slits at the side, cleverly hidden so her legs didn’t play peekaboo, allowed movement. Brooke had been adamant she needed to be able to fight if it came to it, 111
which is why the heels on her stilettos were removable, leaving her in easy-to-maneuver-on flats.
“You look absolutely gorgeous.” Galen whirled her into his arms and kissed her breathless. Brooke felt his heat as though she were naked. Nikolai stroked down her back and her ass, worsening her breathlessness and strengthening her wish they could play in the spaceball field disguised as a bed upstairs.
“I knew this would suit you.” He kissed the sensitive spot between neck and shoulder.
A shiver ran down Brooke’s spine and she stepped back. “Down, boys. If you want me to have the odd brain cell left, you need to cut it out.” The men chuckled and Nikolai stole a quick kiss before both pulled away, giving Brooke an opportunity to admire their wardrobe. During her studies of old Earth she’d learned about its popular culture, which included a debonair spy called James Bond.
Her men reminded her of images she’d seen of the character.
Before they stepped outside and into the waiting transport, Galen stopped her. “Are you sure you’re ready? We can figure out something else.”
“Or just kill Silas,” Nikolai suggested.
“No.” Brooke shook her head. Her palms were sweaty, but she swallowed her anxiety. “We need information on the whole network, not just his part. I also want to find the peop
le they’ve sold. We can’t leave them to suffer more than they already have.”
Her men nodded and led her to the waiting transport.
* * * * *
Nikolai wasn’t happy, but forcing Brooke to stay behind would have damaged their relationship, possibly irreparably. He suppressed a sigh as they travelled to Silas’
mansion.
He wished she didn’t look quite so incredible. When he’d chosen her wardrobe he aimed for clothes that gave her the appearance of harmless arm candy. He hadn’t planned for his response or his possessive attitude. He didn’t want anybody looking at her, let alone Silas’ greedy eyes.
Galen leaned over Brooke, who sat between them, and gripped his hand. They would not leave her alone. One of them would be with her every second of the afternoon. Nikolai still had a premonition of darkness, a fear he would not be able to protect her.
There was no plan B.
They arrived at the mansion. It was the largest in the community. Silas always had to be a little bit bigger and better than everybody around him. He had been made a Vampire, not been born, and tended to compensate in his own way.
A butler greeted them at the door and led them to a large study.
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This looks as if we’ve traveled through time and ended up in old Earth history, Brooke said in their heads. Her initiation of contact increased Nikolai’s heart rate. His blood traveled south.
He had to agree. Massive wooden bookcases filled with antique-looking books lined the walls. The desk took up most of one wall and next to the computer piles of paper sat in untidy stacks. He snorted when he saw an inkwell and two quill pens sitting next to it. Talk about being authentic.
The wall above the desk had been decorated with ancient weapons. Swords, battleaxes and morning stars graced the wall. Smaller knives and dirks took up a quarter of the space. Even a couple of spears had made it up there.
A smaller door to the right opened. Silas walked in. He was shorter than Galen and Nikolai. His dirty-blond hair had been slicked back from his face, showing his beak-like nose and bad skin to a disadvantage. His thin lips displayed a cruel edge his smile couldn’t hide.
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